Eagles Prepared to Open 2016 at Maryland Invite

Volleyball at Maryland Invite
Date:	August 26-27
Location:	College Park, Md. \| XFINITY Center
Weekly Notes:	EMU Notes
Live Stats:	vs. Maryland \| vs. Sacred Heart \| vs. Delaware State
Live Stream:	vs. Maryland (BTN Plus)

COLLEGE PARK, Md. (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Michigan University volleyball team begins the 2016 campaign this weekend, Aug. 26-27, as second-year Head Coach Kimi Olson leads the Eagles to College Park, Md. to take part in the University of Maryland Invite. In the first weekend of the season, the Green and White will take on the Terrapins, as well as squaring off with Sacred Heart University and Delaware State University.

The Eagles begin the weekend by taking on the host Terrapins of Maryland at 7 p.m. at the XFINITY Center Friday, Aug. 26. The Eagles match with the Terps can be found live on Big Ten Network Plus or the BTN2Go app on mobile devices.

Eastern Michigan will follow that up with a doubleheader on Saturday, Aug. 27. EMU will hit the floor at 1 p.m. to take on Sacred Heart before a 4 p.m. tilt with the Hornets of Delaware State.

ALL-TIME AGAINST THE OPPONENTS: Heading into the first weekend of the 2016 campaign, Eastern Michigan looks to square off with three separate opponents in which the Eagles have seen once before. Overall versus this weekend's opposition, the Green and White are 2-1.

EMU has taken on Maryland once in the history of the series. Eastern is 1-0 against the Terrapins, defeating UM on the hardwood, 3-0, back in 1988. That non-conference tilt was part of a 14-11 season in which the Eagles took down Maryland, Sept. 17, at the George Washington Invitational in Washington, D.C.

Eastern did not see the same outcome when the Green and White met up with Sacred Heart in their only matchup of the series. In 2009, EMU was defeated, 3-1, in the opening weekend of the season, Aug. 28. The match was part of the Army Invitational as the Eagles struggled that season, going just 5-28.

The Green and White is 1-0 versus Delaware State as the two squads have met just once before. That match came back on Aug. 31, 2007 when Eastern Michigan defeated the Hornets, 3-0, in a tournament hosted by Xavier in Cincinnati, Ohio.

SEVEN NEW EAGLES LAND IN YPSI: With Kimi Olson looking ahead to her second season at the helm of the EMU volleyball program, the New Castle, Ind. native has revamped the Eagles' roster with seven newcomers for the 2016 campaign. Olson added six freshmen to the roster in Mary Helen Beacom, Rachel Irbe, Ariel Hamby, Camille Schomer, Alysa Sutton and Riley Taylor, while junior middle blocker Kelly Ferguson joins Eastern Michigan after spending two seasons competing for Austin Peay University.

IN SEARCH OF A LIBERO: The EMU volleyball program saw one of the best liberos in program history graduate following the 2015 campaign. Corynne Smith finished her Eagle career with 2,119 digs, ranking third all-time in Eastern Michigan record book. Head coach Kimi Olson will look to fill that spot with one of multiple options at the defensive end. Olson has four student-athletes on the roster listed as defensive specialists who could fill that roster spot. Freshmen Camille Schomer and Alysa Sutton each have the ability to play the back row, while sophomore Alyssa LaFace and junior Jaclyn Ruffolo are also vying for the spot.

ALREADY IN THE RANKS: Redshirt sophomore setter Mallory Rajewski racked up 794 assists in her first season competing for the Green and White. That number ranks as the 15th-most in Eastern Michigan history. Rajewski does have quite a bit of ground to make up, as Kate Sulewski holds the all-time career assists record with 5,474.

A LOT OF NUMBERS TO REPLACE: Head coach Kimi Olson will need to rely heavily on her newcomers. The Eagles lost five of their starters from a season ago, including its all-conference libero Corynne Smith. This season, the Green and White will need to replace multiple student-athletes ranked in the top-15 of multiple career statistical categories. Alyssa Davis ranks 12th in all-time digs, while Katie Krasowski and Kelsey Jones each rank in the top-15 in block assists. Stacey Perinar is 10th in kills, fourth in attack attempts and 14th in aces, while Smith ranks third all-time in digs.

QUICK LOOK BACK AT 2015: Under then first-year head coach Kimi Olson, the Eagles went 14-16 overall, while posting a 6-10 MAC record. Despite being on the outside looking in heading into the last weekend of the regular season, the Green and White were able to rattle off a pair of road victories to make it to the MAC Tournament. The Eagles had one route into the tournament and were able to make it happen by defeating Ball State, 3-1, before going five sets with Toledo, but squeaking out the victory in the Glass City.

EMU PICKED FIFTH IN THE WEST: After ballots were filled out by all of the head volleyball coaches in the Mid-American Conference, the EMU squad is slated to finish fifth in the MAC West Division. Northern Illinois was selected as the division favorite with 11 first place votes, while Miami ranks at the top of the MAC poll in the East Division after garnering nine first place votes. As for the predicted MAC Tournament Champions, Miami led the race with five votes to take the championship, while Northern Illinois received four, Kent State grabbed two and Western Michigan earned a single vote.

EMU VOLLEYBALL LIVE: With Eastern Michigan Athletics heading into its second season of production on ESPN3, while also utilizing Eagle All-Access for a seventh consecutive season, EMU volleyball fans will be able to watch 11 home matches over the web during the 2016 campaign. Currently, four matches are scheduled to appear live on ESPN3, while the remaining seven matches will air live on Eagle All-Access. The current home schedule is as follows:

Saturday, Sept. 17 - Colgate vs. Auburn at 11 a.m. (Eagle All-Access)
Saturday, Sept. 17 - vs. Auburn at 7 p.m. (Eagle All-Access)
Sunday, Sept. 18 - vs. Colgate at 1 p.m. (Eagle All-Access)
Friday, Sept. 30 - vs. Western Michigan at 7 p.m. (ESPN3)
Saturday, Oct. 1 - vs. Northern Illinois at 5 p.m. (Eagle All-Access)
Friday, Oct. 14 - vs. Bowling Green at 7 p.m. (Eagle All-Access)
Saturday, Oct. 15 - vs. Miami at 5 p.m. (Eagle All-Access)
Friday, Oct. 28 - vs. Ball State at Noon (ESPN3)
Saturday, Oct. 29 - vs. Toledo at 7:30 p.m. (Eagle All-Access)
Thursday, Nov. 10 - vs. Central Michigan at 7 p.m. (ESPN3)
Saturday, Nov. 12 - vs. Kent State at 5 p.m. (ESPN3)

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Players Mentioned

Mary Helen Beacom

Alyssa Davis

Kelly Ferguson

Ariel Hamby

Rachel Irbe

Kelsey Jones

Katie Krasowski

Alyssa LaFace

Stacey Perinar

Mallory Rajewski

Jaclyn Ruffolo

Camille Schomer

Corynne Smith

Alysa Sutton

Riley Taylor

Eastern Michigan Athletics